OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said ChatGPT will likely try ads “at some point” but he still has “no idea” what ads will look like. Altman also doesn’t see ads as OpenAI’s “biggest revenue opportunity.”
In an interview on Conversations with Tyler, Altman also took another direct shot at Google’s ad model:
“Ads on a Google search are dependent on Google doing badly. If it was giving you the best answer, there’d be no reason ever to buy an ad above it.
“So you’re like – that thing is not quite aligned with me. ChatGPT, maybe it gives you the best answer, maybe it doesn’t, but you’re paying it, or hopefully all are paying it, and it’s at least trying to give you the best answer.”
His point. Google makes money when results fall short. ChatGPT should only make money when it earns users’ trust, according to Altman.
“If ChatGPT were accepting payment to put a worse hotel above a better hotel, that’s probably catastrophic for your relationship with ChatGPT.”
Why we care. If Altman’s ChatGPT ad model vision becomes reality, the path from question to recommendation to purchase could all take place in a single conversation. Brands and businesses will need to figure out how to remain visible in these new search journeys.
How Altman would do ChatGPT Ads. Show the best recommendation first. Then, if a user books or buys with one click, OpenAI could take a small commission that doesn’t affect results.
“If ChatGPT shows you its guess – the best hotel, whatever that is – and then if you book it with one click, takes the same cut that it would take from any other hotel, and there’s nothing that influenced it … I think that’s probably OK.
“We’ll do that for travel at some point.”
What he won’t do. ChatGPT won’t have pay-to-play answers. If money corrupts rankings, trust collapses, according to Altman.
“There’s a kind of ad that I think would be really bad like the one we talked about. There are kinds of ads that I think would be very good – or pretty good – to do. I expect it’s something we’ll try at some point. I do not think it is our biggest revenue opportunity.”
What an OpenAI ad might look like. Not even Altman knows yet. He’s not even working on it:
“I’m really good about not doing the things I don’t want to do.
“You know, we have the world expert thinking about our product strategy. I used to do that. I used to spend a lot of time thinking about product and now she’s much better at it than me. I have other things to think about. I’m sure she’ll figure it out.
Dig deeper. Sam Altman’s ChatGPT pivot: From ‘I hate ads’ to ‘maybe they don’t suck’
The interview. Sam Altman on Trust, Persuasion, and the Future of Intelligence – Live at the Progress Conference